Numerical Evaluation of Flow and Heat Transfer in Plate-Pin Fin Heat Sinks with Various Pin Cross-Sections

A numerical investigation of the thermal and hydraulic performance of 20 different plate-pin fin heat sinks with various shapes of pin cross-sections (square, circular, elliptic, NACA profile, and dropform) and different ratios of pin widths to plate fin spacing (0.3, 0.4, 0.5, and 0.6) was performed. Finite volume method-based CFD software, Ansys CFX, was used as the 3-D Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes Solver. A k-ω based shear-stress-transport model was used to predict the turbulent flow and heat transfer through the heat sink channels. The present study provides original information about the performance of this new type of compound heat sink.